


and i miss your face like hell

by MiaouMiaou



Series: High Rollers Soulmates AU [2]
Category: Yogscast "High Rollers" D&D Campaign
Genre: Platonic Soulmates, Soulmates AU, follows the canon but changes a bit, that soulmates au where the first words said to you are written on your skin, this has to do with episode 6 through 9 and spoils some things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 09:30:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9485057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiaouMiaou/pseuds/MiaouMiaou
Summary: Elora can feel it before she checks. Cam and Trellimar knew.Jiutou is dead.But they'll do anything to get her back.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This contains a lot of spoilers for episode 6 and 9 of High Rollers! So be aware of that. A sequel to my other soulmate AU, nothing is as it has been
> 
> I got the title from lyrics from the song Rivers and Roads by the Head and the Heart

Elora knew it wasn’t a good idea from the start. Something about the place gave her a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she didn’t like it at all. Jiutou seemed fine, she didn’t seem worried much. Elora tried her best not to show her feelings. The boys were back in town, and they had just won the battle, so she should have felt great, unstoppable, even. But she didn’t. In the back of her mind was a feeling of dread, just dripping down her shoulders and soaking into the ground and around her feet. She didn’t want to do this. But she didn’t want Jiutou to go alone either.

And then they were in that basement, and Jiutou touched that suit of armor. When the lights appeared on not just the one suit, but both? No. Elora was done. “We should go now!” She shouted, getting ready to move. “I don’t think we can take them both on our own.” She grimaced, hoping Jiutou would see reason in what she was saying. They could get out if they left now. She didn’t want to fight them.

“Let’s have a little try,” Jiutou replied with a smirk. Elora frowned as Jiutou spun her guandao forward at the suit of armor, and then kicked it square in the chest. The sound of the strike hitting the metal echoed through the room, making the hair on Elora’s arms stand up. Every instinct she had was telling her to go. To just run and get _out._

“I really think we should leave. These things are magical.”

“Treasure!” Jiutou said in lieu of a proper response, too preoccupied with the battle.

Elora grunted, knowing that Jiutou was just being stubborn and an _idiot,_ and moved forward, casting a spell on her staff as she moved, striking the armor, but as her staff bounced out, Elora knew it was no good. The armor stumbled forward, a fist heading towards both of them. It missed Elora, but smacked the monk square in the chest. Elora could feel the hit weakly in her own chest as well. “We’re _leaving_ ,” She snapped.

Jiutou raised an arm weakly. “Treasure.”

There was clanging as the other suit of armor came up behind Jiutou and came at her with both fists. She shouted out in pain and fell, and Elora could feel the wind knocked out of her, could feel the dread rising. It didn’t feel the same as it had when anyone else had fallen before. This was worse. This came with a pain in the pit of her stomach and a blurry mind and just _dread_. Her instincts were telling her to run. The mark on her back, the messy script, was burning, screaming at her. It was telling her to stay, to help.

She knew she wasn’t strong enough, not like this. But she had to do _something_. Anything. She focused, turning into a direwolf, and then she did the only thing she thought she could do. She took Jiutou’s tail in her jaws and pulled her out of there, then did the best she could to get her onto her back. She ran out of there, onto the stairs and nearly collapsed then as the worst pain that she had ever felt in her entire life ran through her bones. She howled out in pain, knowing that Jiutou could be dead.

She shifted out of wolf form and gasped. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe the soulmark brunign didn’t mean anything. Maybe it was because she was closer to Jiutou than she was to Trell. Maybe that was why it was different, this time. She shoved a healing potion into the tiefling’s mouth, and sobbed, praying. Jiutou didn’t react. Elora grabbed at the woman’s arm, her wrist, trying desperately to find a pulse. But nothing. Her skin was cold.

Her face felt cold as she came to the sudden, and tragic realization that Jiutou was dead.

After that, it was a rush. She turned back into a wolf, and ran with Jiutou on her back, towards Tallfield. Into the tavern. Elf again, holding Jiutou in her arms, tears staining her cheeks and her eyes puffy and red. “Anyone, help me! Someone who can perform magic. Please, somebody help me!” Her voice cracked as she cried out. Cam and Trellimar were already there, sitting at a booth with expressions of ultimate dread on their faces.

“She’s dead?” Trellimar asked softly. His hand resting on his forearm, where his sleeve had been rolled up to reveal the messy script that was Jiutou’s handwriting, already fading from his skin, angry and painful around looping letters that read _‘Really?’_. Cam’s hand clutched his leg tightly, his knuckles turning white.

“Jiutou’s dead.” Elora sobbed, and Cam stood, moving over towards her.

“Not she’s not. She’s just faking.” He said, but the usual jest in his voice was gone. He knew just as well as Elora and Trellimar did. Jiutou was dead. They all felt it, the misery surrounding them, their marks burning into their flesh.

Not many people talked about soulmates dying. It was something that people preferred not to mention, or that young people ignored. When you were young, and looking for your soulmate, you never wanted to think that they were going to die.

You didn’t want to consider it.

The three of them hadn’t been truly prepared for this, for the pain, for the heartache. They weren’t losing a lover, or a romantic partner, or even someone that they had known for that long, but they had lost Jiutou. And Jiutou was one of their soulmates, platonic or otherwise, and it _hurt_. It fucking hurt in all the ways that you’d expect and all the ways that you wouldn’t. Dread filled their minds, their mouths were fuzzy and dry, their bones ached, their muscles screamed, their hearts were crying, sobbing, drowning in tears. Jiutou was dead.

“No. No.” Cam said, looking for anything. But there was nothing there. No part of Jiutou was left. So instead, he did the only thing he could think of. He fell to his knees, clutched his hands together, and closed his eyes in prayer. He _begged_ for it. Begged for _her_. He would give his life for Jiutou at this point, he’d do anything. He wanted the pain to stop. He wanted Elora’s and Trell’s pain to stop. He wanted Jiutou to be alive and to go on and do whatever it was that she was going to do, even if she hadn’t told them. Even if it had been less than a week.

Even if she was dead.

He begged to Avandra.

Cune shook his head, Finny apologized. Both looked sad, but they couldn’t know how they were feeling right now. They didn’t know the conversation that Cam was having with his Goddess. They didn’t know that the adventurers had known from the moment it happened, even though only Elora had been there.

 And maybe, just maybe, they could do something. Cam prayed to Avandra, Trellimar spoke to his patron. Elora sobbed, feeling helpless.

Cam opened his eyes and in a single movement, stood, lifting Jiutou. “We’re going.” He left the tavern.

Trellimar followed behind, Elora with him. “We have some options.” The drow said, and explained what the voice in his head had told him. He wanted to save Jiutou just as much as the other two. He felt the stinging pain in his chest, on his arm.

“I’ve already made my decision. I trust my god more than I trust you, Trell,” Cam snapped. He didn’t care if they were all soulmates, if they had been put to this together. He had Jiutou and he knew that Avandra wouldn’t lie to him. The forest in the North-East was the best lead they had, and he was determined to save Jiutou, even if it cost him his life.

They got a horse from Vixanis, speaking quickly. Cam didn’t have the patience for chit-chat, and they promised to meet up, once Jiutou was alive again. Trellimar was going to make sure he had another option, another way to get Jiutou back if this failed, and that was it.

Death was heavy and dreadful and soaked into their bones. They hardly spoke as they spent the long five days traveling to the forest, just hoping that they could do something.

And looking up at the giant, ancient trees, the three frowned, knowing that they would need all the luck and skill that they could find if they had any chance of saving Jiutou.

* * *

 

 

The journey into the forest was long and tiring, as they searched for the Autumn spire. When they had left Jiutou with the fey spirit, they had been unsure about leaving her. But it would be faster if they didn’t have to carry her body around with them.

As they travelled, they worried for Jiutou. No one was checking on her, keeping her safe. Or at least they weren’t there to observe and ensure that she was still alright. Instead, they worried that perhaps she was too far gone.

Elora worried at the sore mark on her back, and had periodically asked Trellimar and Cam if it was still there. Trell checked his arm often, rubbing his fingers over the marks that were no longer black, but pale and scar-like. Cam had even dropped his pants to check his mark, disgusting his companions as he did so.

They fretted more over each other as well, and for only a split second, they had felt the similar feeling of dread as Cam was hit, only for it to be repressed back by a warm feeling twice as strong. Cam’s hair glowed bright, and he was lifted from the dead. Elora wasn’t surprised, having seen it before, but Trell was confused. They didn’t dwell on it too long though, because they had more important things to worry about. Unlike Cam, Jiutou didn’t have glowing golden hair that brought her back from the dead, and she still needed their help.

Their adventures from then on were tedious and trying. The orcs and the elven spire were horrid. Forever thankful for the help from Shalana, Payla, Torwyn and Falk, they had managed to get a horn, but not the one that they needed. Unsure, hoping for the best, off they headed, back to the fey creature they had left Jiutou with.

Falk with them, they approached the area. Jiutou’s body was wrapped in reds and golds, delicately set onto a stone slab. They spoke with the spirit, and fretted as they knew that the horn they had wasn’t the right one. Elora could feel tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. After all of that, and they had failed? No. It couldn’t be. She wouldn’t accept it.

“But why? Why go to these lengths for this tiefling? From what I can tell, you have not known her for long. Why do you help her?”

It was a question that they all knew the answer to.

“She’s our soulmate.” Elora offered, meekly.

“She’s proven herself in combat. She’s a worthy companion to have by our side,” Trellimar offered. “She’d do the same for us.”

“She’s a lonely person, and I think she needs a friend. I want to be one of those friends,” Elora said, strongly.

“She has sparked something which I’ve never seen before in myself, and I want to see it again. She’s one of my soulmates. She means a lot,” Cam said, his hands shaking, the ache on his leg returning once more.

“And if I cannot bring her back?”

“We’ll go somewhere else, find another solution.” Elora had spoken almost as soon as the fey spirit had finished. “We won’t give up on her. We’ll keep trying as long as we can. Until we succeed. We’re not giving up on her. We won’t.”

The fey spirit explained everything after that, saying that she could be changed, that they would have to sacrifice things. That it was the only time that Jiutou could ever be brought back. But they all knew that they wouldn’t let it happen again. They would protect her, they wouldn’t let her die again. None of them would die again.

And when Falk offered to help, they let him, knowing that he was a pure soul, and they needed him. They wanted to save her. They’d do anything.

Trell frowned, taking his rope, the magical one that he had lost and found again, and placed it down. It wasn’t much, but it was the most he had, and it meant a lot. Jiutou meant more. “It was shit anyway.” He muttered.

Elora fingered the leaf broach from her quiver. Her father had gifted it to her, but it was fine. She would be fine without it, as long as Jiutou was back by their side, and then took the coin that Jiutou had given her, setting it carefully down.

Cam handed over his dagger without much consideration. It was rusty and crappy, but it was the most important thing that he owned. Mirela had made it for him on his 18th birthday, and Mirela was dead now. Jiutou didn’t have to be. And Mirela would want this. If he couldn’t have saved her, the least that he could do is save her.

Falk took the mace, setting it down carefully. He didn’t know Jiutou, he didn’t have the connection to her that the rest of them did, but everyone knew that it meant a lot.

Elora held Jiutou’s hand, and it slipped away as a flash of light consumed Jiutou’s body, and then she reformed, settling down before them on the stone. She was different, her clothes too big, she was smaller, but it was Jiutou. She was 15, but she was alive.

At the same time, Cam, Elora and Trellimar all felt strange tingling on their body. Elora felt it on her lower back, where Jiutou’s soulmark had been, Cam, on his leg. Trell felt it on his arm, and rolled up his sleeve to stare at the soulmark.

It too, was different. The word that had been there before had faded into nothing but a pale scar, and over top of it, in Jiutou’s loopy, sloppy script, printed in black, were new words.

Jiutou’s rose, blinking, and she was greeted to the sight of Cam’s face, a sight that she never thought she would be grateful to see. “You’re a child!” Cam shouted, and Jiutou laughed.

“You’re a human!” She exclaimed, and was scooped up into Elora’s arms, feeling warm tears dripping down onto her shoulder. Jiutou reached her arms around her in return, noticing the soulmark on her forearm, different than they had been before.

“That’s not Jiutou.” Cam chuckled.

Elora gasped. “It is! It’s Jiutou! She’s back!” She cried out, pulling the tiefling in closer. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, Miss Elora.” When Elora finally released her, she turned towards Trellimar, who draped his cape over her. “Mr. Trellimar.” Jiutou said carefully. “It’s good to see you standing. How are you?”

“Other than a hole in my tunic, I’m good,” The drow responded, and Jiutou felt a smile tug at her mouth, having read the same words just a moment before.

Elora cried out in happiness, and Jiutou found herself crying as well. And though none of them would admit it, Cam and Trellimar both shed tears as well that day.

And that night, when they had set up camp and everyone else was asleep, Jiutou took a moment to check her soulmarks, reading the words that were different than they had been. It was the only thing that was different about her young body, the words. They were in the same place, the same handwriting, but the words were different.

She thought back to when she had met them the first time, when she had been terrified to hear the words printed on her skin be spoken around her. But this time, when she reread the words over and over again, she couldn’t help but smile.

Elora’s cursive neatly on her back, reading, “It is! It’s Jiutou. She’s back!”

Cam’s sloppy print, just as stupid as the first phrase had been. “You’re a child!”

And Trell, witty as ever, “Other than a hole in my tunic, I’m good.”

And while she was sad that the original marks were gone, it was good in a way, like this. Because now, when she read the words, she heard their voices in her head, and she knew that they were really meant to be there. That the words were for her, and that the three people who had said them really, truly, deeply cared for her.

So it didn’t matter that she was 15 again, that the words had changed. They meant so much more now, that she had died and they had brought her back. There was no more searching to be had, no more wondering, because she had found them. She was sure of it.

And she loved all three of them to the end of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             

             

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! As always, I can be found over at <http://chat-miaou.tumblr.com> I'd love to get some feedback as well. :)


End file.
